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recumbent...

This is my recumbent bike. I made it out of a couple of old bikes salvaged from the tip and some mild steel tubing. The rear fork is from a Saracen AWOL, and I used an elastomer damper.

The seat is laminated out of two sheets of 4mm ply glued up on a frame, and it's suprisingly comfortable - much better than an upright bike!

The front wheel drive system works well (although it was to be the undoing of this bike - read on!) and uses a couple of idler pulleys from McMaster-Carr. The turning angle is limited but this is only a problem at very low speeds. Because I used a small front wheel the bike was a little too low geared and I could have done with a bigger chain ring.

The whole thing was welded using a small arc welder and I had no frame breaks despite being a complete novice.

It is comfortable to ride and cruises faster than my upright bike (but still not very fast because I am unfit!) despite being heavy and having cheap salvaged wheels / chain / derailleur etc.

Going uphill is hard!! Small boys laugh at me when I ride it.

For the road it is too low - my head is only about 1m above the ground and I was very scared riding it!

Luckily I crashed it so I am not tempted to ride it any more.

Now it is rusting in the garden with a mangled front wheel. I think this is for the best.

The bike was left in the garden when I went on holiday and when I came back a month later the derailleur had rusted a bit, and was not taking up the slack in the chain. This made the chain swing from side to side and it caught in the front wheel. The front wheel stopped turning and I slid gracefully along the tarmac on my elbow and carried the bike home. The front wheel is now a figure - eight shape. Compared to crashing an upright bike it was very uneventful!

If you are going to build a recumbent, fit chain guides to keep the chain away from the wheels! I always meant to but never got round to it.

In the picture above I am keeping myself upright with one hand on the ground - it's that low! This was useful at traffic lights. Note rear suspension using an elastomer damper. (The black blob just in front of the rear wheel)

The next bicycle project? How about an attempt on the world record for the tallest ridable bicycle - currently held by Brad Graham of Atomic Zombie!

links...

bikeforest - lots of good stuff, don't miss the 'CouchBike'!

Contact me! redhot@freeuk.com